AI altering meaning of users’ drafts on issues from abortion to climate, study finds

Researchers say small changes in drafting could spread rapidly and create long-term shifts in public opinion

AI tools are twisting online messages on sensitive political topics about everything from abortion to climate change in ways that could snowball to reshape long-term public opinion, experts have said.

As tech companies push AI tools as convenient ways to redraft and summarise the massive influx of daily messages, many inject their own political biases - some leaning distinctly rightwing, others more liberal, according to a study from Oxford and Potsdam universities.